Sunday, February 22, 2009

I have to quickly make note of the fabulous chamber music performance Marc and I saw this afternoon at Davis Symphony Hall. San Francisco Symphony musicians played three very diverse works and rocked them all. The first piece was Repentance, a world premiere of what I can best describe as a tone poem for cello, bass and 3 guitars by SFS artist in residence Sofia Gubaidulina. It was followed by two string quartets, Bedrich Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 in E Minor (From My Life) and Beethoven’s Quartet in B-Flat Major for Strings, Opus 18, No. 6 (La Malinconia).Nadya Tichman, SFS Associate Concertmaster and the 1st violin on the Beethoven, really nailed it, but I have to admit I was really blown away by the Smetana. This was an obviously complicated and difficult piece, and the 4 musicians, Sarn Oliver, Mariko Smiley, Yun Jie Liu and Margaret Tait played it flawlessly and with passion. The musicians were accompanied by an audience member sitting about two rows behind us that skillfully and loudly snored off and on through the whole thing, LOL. Brava everyone!!!

About Me

Art historian, author, artist and researcher living in the
SF Bay Area. Emphasis on works on paper and exhibitions, in particular comic art, law
& pop culture and labor graphics (union labels). Owner of Neurotic Raven, which recently published On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison and Dual Views: Labor Landmarks of San Francisco.